Cookbooks: Cornerstone Cooking

I have a confession to make. Even though I write about food for a living and spend the bulk of my days sitting no more than five feet from my kitchen, I still regularly struggle when dinnertime rolls around.

You see, I try to keep our evening meals relatively inexpensive, healthy and not too time consuming to make. What this ends up meaning for me is that I cook the same seven things over and over again. While Scott is perfectly willing to eat chili, turkey burgers, giant salads and chicken soup on repeat, I find that I need new meals on my plate.

I’m constantly searching for genius to strike. I flip through Everyday Food each month when it arrives and I try to sit down in front of my shelves of cookbooks on a regular basis to see if something will resonate.

Recently, I fell hard for a new cookbook that I think will be motivating my meals for many months to come. Part of the reason I love it so is that it fits my mealtime criteria and cooking style (cheap and easy). Called Cornerstone Cooking and written by Nick Evans (he’s the blogger behind Macheesmo), it’s designed to help you build meals around one of eight central ingredients.

Each chapter starts with a recipe for the central (or cornerstone) ingredient and then offers a number of different ways to transform that item into a full meal. While I realize that this isn’t a crazy-new concept, it’s so helpful to have all these different recipes in one place and to be reminded that I can do more with a roast chicken than just make my standard soup (I’ve got Nick’s tortilla soup high on my to-make list).

One section that I think will particularly appeal to the preservers in the crowd is the one in which Nick details all the things you can do with Marinara Sauce. Many of us make up a dozen or more jars of homemade sauce each August and while serving it over pasta is always an acceptable course of action, it’s always nice to have alternatives.

Next brunch potluck I’m invited to, I’m making his Eggs in Purgatory Casserole. I’ve done a quick, skillet version of that dish for years, but I like the idea of lining the casserole dish with crusty bread so that it becomes akin to a savory, tomato-y, French toast. With a salad, I wouldn’t think twice about serving something for dinner, either.

Last week, Nick took the time to answer a few of my questions about his new book and his plans for future canning projects.

I love the title of the book. How long have you been working with that phrase and this idea?

I came up with the idea for the book long before I had a name for it. I knew I wanted to write about repurposing leftovers and try to show people how it can sexy to take something old and turn it into something new. Chefs do it all the time, but most home cooks haven’t quite caught onto the idea.

Anyway, about the name, I was walking down the street one day listening to a podcast (I don’t even remember which one) and they described something as the “cornerstone” idea. It worked perfectly with the method of cooking I was trying to describe — using one large meal as the backbone for other smaller meals. I’ve always liked alliterative titles so Cornerstone Cooking just flowed from there.

What was your very first cornerstone recipe?

The first one that I wrote for the book was the Nick Nugget recipe. I knew I wanted roasted chicken to be the first chapter since it is easy and accessible to a lot of people. Plus there are tons of meals you can make with leftover chicken. I could’ve written a whole book on that!

The first cornerstone recipe that I ever made without knowing it was probably my Fridge Cleaner Chili. I kind of just toss all of the veggies I have in my fridge with some stock, spices, tomatoes, and beans and let it simmer for awhile. It’s always a hit.

I see that you did some canning in 2011. Any plans for more in 2012?

Oh yes! I was lucky that both of my canning attempts last year turned out to be successful even though I was a complete novice. You honestly inspired me to try it out. I was shocked by how easy it was to do.

I plan to do a lot more pickled veggies this year just because they are my favorite. I might try one or two experimental jams to give out as gifts also. I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, but I made a jalapeno peach jam last year that was better than expected.

Here’s the other thing that makes this book so impressive. Nick did the whole darn thing himself. He wrote every word, did the all photography, prepared the design and indexed every recipe (he even indicated which recipes are his wife’s favorites, a touch that I love). Truly, every ounce of it is all his work.

In addition to giving me a copy to review, Nick has also given me two copies to give away to Food in Jars readers. Here’s what to do:

To enter the giveaway, leave a comment on this post and share your favorite “cornerstone” ingredient.

Comments will close at 11:59 pm eastern time on Friday, May 4, 2012. Winner will be chosen at random (using random.org) and will be posted to the blog on Saturday, May 5, 2012.

Giveaway is open to U.S. and Canadian readers.

One entry/comment per person, please.

Disclosure: I received a review copy of this book, as well as two review units, at no cost to me. My opinions remain entirely my own.

My favorite cornerstone item is roasted veggies. I find I’ll add some veggies to the oven whenever I’m roasting anything. I can toss them into a salad, an omelet, into udon soup, make veggie fried rice. A ton of things!

Tomatoes – you can turn a tomato into almost anything. Sauce, soup, salsa, a salad, the base for a curry. It’s a staple in my house year round. (Especially after canning season!)

Whole Chicken – My whole chicken gets broken down (if it’s not roasted first!) into the bits, the carcass gets made into stock, the fat gets rendered into chicken butter for cooking. Nothing goes to waste on that bird. I use the stock in soups, stews, whatever, I use the fat for sauteing or making awsome potatoes, and the meat I will use in a lot of dishes.

Tomatoes are our cornerstone ingredient. We froze a lot of sauce this summer and I also canned some tomatoes. When it comes to adding them to casseroles and stews my husband falls into the “more is better” category. My tomato starts are currently sunning themselves in the window, waiting for the weather to warm up.

This book is just what I need to jump start my Spring cooking! My favorite cornerstone ingredient is a whole chicken – we regularly make and freeze chicken stock and I would love to see what variations Nick has included in his book for other meals that can be made with the leftovers!

I’ll go with a cornerstone canned good – that tomato jam you posted a while ago. I mix it into a lot of recipes to give a more hearty feel. My favorite to to add it to stuffed cabbage roll stuffing. It’s just rice (or quinoa or couscous), ground beef, tomato jam, and pepper. No other seasonings necessary because of the richness of that jam.

I’ll have to go with tomatoes! So yummy. My kid eats the grape tomatoes like chips. I use chopped tomatoes in almost everything….tossed with pasta, tossed with salad, stirred in soup, mixed in omelets, sliced on pizza, on sandwiches, etc. I think the only thing I don’t do is have tomatoes for dessert. As a child, when my parents left me home alone, I once tried to make tomato-ice cream. It was so disgusting that tomato in any form left me gagging for months.

Like so many others, tomatoes are a major cornerstone of mine — which is terribly frustrating, since they aren’t in season, and we’re having trouble finding crushed tomatoes in BPA-free containers. I plan to do a LOT of canning this year!

Chicken. We eat so much of it, I’m surprised we don’t have feathers. This book looks absolutely delightful and fits in perfectly with my latest kitchen MO, roasting a bird on Sunday evening with vegetables or something on the side, and surviving on that during the week. I find that, no matter how well I plan, by the time I get home from work, have a glass of wine, and put my feet up to watch the news, I’m too tired to cook from scratch, even if I’ve diligently purchased all the needed ingredients the week before–just. too. tired. This book sounds PERFECT!

What a fab book!
Roast Pork is like the roast chicken: it can be used to create many different type of meals. When it’s on the menu (read “on sale”), I try to get more lbs than what I need & re-purpose it depending on the mood du jour.

Pasta has always been one of my favorite foods, and as I’ve grown up I now even add “real” ingredients to make it a meal of its own (real being all those veggies I abhorred as a child). To me, it’s a perfect base or side for any meal!